Although the summer of 2014 ended with a brief heat wave, it will likely be remembered for the cool and wet conditions that prevailed over the Mid-West and Ohio Valley. The persistent cool and wet pattern was caused by a series of upper level troughs that dove into the region from northern Canada. These upper level troughs prevented the heat and humidity over the western US from moving eastward. However, most people were not complaining. A “cool” summer equates to comfortable temperatures and lower electric bills due to less air conditioning being needed.
In Chicago, the summer of 2014 would prove to be the 9th wettest on record with 17.25” of rain falling between June 1st and August 31st. That is 5.20” above normal, but still way short of the all-time wettest summer of 1987, where 23.48” of rain fell. In terms of temperature, the average high for the summer was 81 degrees, which is 0.9 degrees below normal. While 0.9 degrees below average may not seem like much, this was a drastic change from the last few summers where temperatures were well above normal. In 2012, the average high temperature was a scorching 87 degrees! The graph below shows the trend in average summer temperature (highs and lows combined) over the last five years.
The cool conditions also reached south and east towards Indianapolis, where the summer proved to be the 25th coolest on record with an average temperature of 72.2 degrees. This is 1.7 degrees below normal, and making it the coolest summer since 2004. Unlike Chicago, rainfall for the summer ended up near normal with 13.09 inches. The 30 year average for summer rainfall is 11.93”, making this summer only 1.16” above normal. Farther east into Ohio, temperatures also averaged slightly below normal for much of the state. However, the summer of 2014 was not as wet in Ohio compared to locations farther west. Most of central Ohio received summer rainfall totals that were very close to normal. Overall, the summer of 2014 did not feature any extreme temperature or precipitation variations for Ohio.
